CHAPTER II 



BROKEN AND SHADED LIGHT 



ALL the lights that come from the sky and 

 reach the earth, whether from sun, moon, or 

 stars, are broken lights in the sense that they 

 are somewhat shattered by passing through 

 atmosphere. None of them reaches us in its 

 purity ; yet, comparatively speaking, we say 

 that sunlight is direct light, moonlight is re- 

 flected light, and cloud light is broken light. A 

 cloud between the sun and the earth is merely 

 the interposition of a visible atmosphere dense 

 with particles of moisture, but it has a very 

 decided effect in subduing the intensity of light 

 and darkening the earth. The more vapor- 

 laden the cloud and the thicker through its 

 mass, the darker it will appear and the feebler 

 will be the light filtered through it. If it is a 

 large cloud it will appear, perhaps, unusually 

 dark to us, for the reason that we can see only 

 its shadowed base. On its upper part or top 

 it is, of course, shining white in the sunlight, 

 like the cumulus of a summer day ; for a cloud 

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Cloud 

 light. 



